Monday, February 1, 2016

GIVEAWAY and Tutorial! : Valentine's Day handwarmers

WESTie Deanne from Annie and Dot Fabrics has an exrta-neat Valentine's Day tutorial just for you! Read below to see how to make your very own heart shaped handwarmers. Want to win your own pair of handwarmers? Read to the very bottom to find out!

Hi there! I’m Deanne from Annie and Dot Fabrics and I wanted to share a little fun LOVE-ly craft that anyone can make. My boys spend alot of time outside and often come in with chilly feet and hands and handwarmers are such a great thing to give them so that they can warm up in a jiff. You can toss these little guys in their pockets or in their gloves as they make their way to school. Or in their boots after they get off the ice as we often do with our boys. Since February hosts Valentine's Day I thought it would be extra special to give our diy a love theme. You can make and give to loved ones or just keep for yourself around the house. This is such a quick and easy diy that you can even involve your kids. I know my oldest liked cutting out my patterns and putting the different hearts together, while my youngest helped me funnel the rice in. On top of these being great for warming hands they can also be really good for cooling too. Make a few extra and toss them in the freezer for when you need a little cooling action. They are perfect for kids as they don’t get as cold as an ice pack and are more engaging so chances are they might leave the cold pack on longer. This craft can also be turned into many other things, such as closet or herbal satchets to use around your home, decorations, beanbags and probably lots more, but today I am going to show you how to make heart handwarmers.

This project can be done with or without a sewing machine. I stitched mine on my machine but you can handstitch your hearts for that added love.

1. Print out the pattern and cut out your hearts how you see fit. You can cut your heart fabric pieces out using pinking shears to cut back on the fraying and to give a fun finish or leave as is and they will fray over time.

2. Place small heart on one big heart and stitch down with ¼” seam. You can pin your small heart to your big one or in my case I use a glue stick and tack the middle down--just don’t put too much near the outside edge as you don’t want to gum up your needle.

3. Place 2 big hearts wrong sides together and start on one of the straight edges to stitch ¼” around, leaving a 1”-2” opening. You can use a zig-zag stitch or a shorter stitch length. Make sure to backstitch at starting and finishing points.

4. Fill your heart up half to three-quarters full with rice.

5. Close up opening with a little gluestick or pins and stitch your opening closed either by hand or machine. Remember to make sure the rice doesn’t get close to your needle or you may break the needle.

6. Heat up in your microwave for 20-30 seconds for warm results or store in your freezer for a cooling option.

So for those of you who aren’t that much of a DIY-er, just don’t have time, a sewing machine or whatever, feel free to comment below for a chance to win your set of heart handwarmers. To enter, simply comment about who you will be celebrating Valentine's Day with - it’s that easy! Winner will be notified by email. Want another chance to win? Comment on the IG post as seen today on WEST'sInstagram AND our WEST Facebook page!

Contest opens right now - and closes on Thursday, February 4, 2016 at 11:59pm Central Time. The extra-lucky winner will be chosen at random and WEST will post such on Saturday, February 6, 2016 at 3:00pm Central Time! Best of luck!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Feel free to post pics of your finished handwarmers. Or if you turned your heart handwarmers into something else let us know - we would love to hear your ideas. :)